While explaining his decision to participate in Chris Paul’s charity game in his home town of Winston-Salem, N.C., earlier this month, Wizards free agent forward Josh Howard joked that “people still want to see me play.” But being around that thrilling, high-flying environment convinced Howard that he should organize his own event in Dallas, the city he still considers home since being traded to the Wizards in the deal that shipped Caron Butler, Brendan Haywood and DeShawn Stevenson to the Mavericks at the trade deadline in 2010.

Come on down to Dallas. (John McDonnell/THE WASHINGTON POST)

The game will be held at the P.C. Cobb Athletic Complex at Dallas’s Fair Park, which seats about 2,200. Howard hosted a charity game in the same building last June and it featured Blatche and Trevor Booker. Tickets can be purchased through the Josh Howard Foundation’s Web site or by calling 202-600-0623.

Howard has been training in Dallas and North Carolina throughout the offseason and has been on the road to recovery since having last season cut short with complications from his left knee injury. He said recently that he would keep up with the same routine until the lockout ends and he is able to sign somewhere as a free agent.

“I think for the most part, during the lockout I’m going to continue to work out the way I’ve been doing, doing a lot of cardiovascular stuff and being prepared. I know there is nothing like basketball shape, but once guys start running up and down and getting in basketball, it’ll pretty much come back, like riding a bike.”

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